The Northern Front commander who forced the Tsar's abdication at Pskov
Nicholas II is reported to have said in exile: 'God gives me the strength to forgive all my enemies and tormentors, but General-Adjutant Ruzsky I cannot forgive.'
An infantry general of Imperial Russia who earned the title 'Conqueror of Galicia,' he commanded the Third Army, the Northwestern Front, and the Northern Front during the First World War. As commander of the Northern Front headquartered at Pskov during the February Revolution, he received Nicholas II's train and pressed the Tsar to introduce a responsible ministry and then to abdicate, relaying the unanimous telegrams of Chief of Staff Alekseyev and the front commanders. After an hour and a half of argument, the moment the Tsar's will broke was the moment the military declared it would no longer defend the dynasty. Late in the Civil War he refused a Red Army command, calling it 'a war of Russians against Russians,' and stayed at the Caucasian mineral waters; in 1918 he was taken as a hostage and killed by the Cheka.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1877–1878Fought in the Russo-Turkish War, wounded at the fortress of Gorni Dubnik
- 1881Graduated Nikolayev Academy of General Staff; staff posts in Kiev and Vilno districts
- 1904–1905Chief of Field Staff, 2nd Manchurian Army in the Russo-Japanese War
- 1909Promoted General of Infantry; Member of Military Council; co-author of the 1912 Field Regulations
- 1914.07–09Commander of the Third Army; took Lemberg in the Battle of Galicia
- 1914.09–1915.03Commander-in-Chief, Northwestern Front
- 1915.08–1917.04Commander-in-Chief, Northern Front; pressed Nicholas II to abdicate at Pskov, March 1917
- 1917.04Resigned over discipline disputes with the Provisional Government; moved to Caucasian Mineral Waters
Related historical events
- 1914–1918First World WarRussian front commanderHe commanded the Northwestern and Northern Fronts during the First World War.
- 1917.02–07The February RevolutionNorthern Front Commander who forced abdicationAt his Pskov headquarters he pressured Nicholas II late at night to abdicate and relayed the unanimous telegrams of the front commanders, breaking the Tsar's will.
General Staff service, corps command and the 1912 Field Regulations (1878-1914)
Ruzsky's career was built in staff work and the codification of military institutions before it was built on the battlefield. In July 1878 he was attached to a reserve battalion to prepare for entry to the Nikolayev Academy of the General Staff, which he graduated from at first class in 1881. He then held staff posts in the Kazan and Kiev military districts, and from 1882 to 1896 served as chief of staff to the 11th Cavalry Division, the 32nd Infantry Division, the 151st Infantry Pyatigorsk Regiment and other units. In 1896 he became district quartermaster of the Kiev Military District headquarters, and in April 1904 he was appointed chief of staff of the Vilno Military District. During his service in the Kiev district he reportedly enjoyed great trust and respect both among fellow officers and from his superiors.
In the Russo-Japanese War he took part in the battles at Sandepu and Mukden as chief of staff of the 2nd Manchurian Army; while with the rearguard at Mukden he was injured in a fall from a horse but remained with the field army. He was regarded by General Staff officers as one of the best generals and most valuable workers in the army. After the war, in 1906, he took part in the drafting of the regulations on wartime field command, and from May 1907 he sat on the Supreme Military Criminal Court, investigating the surrender of Port Arthur. That October he was appointed commander of the 21st Army Corps but was relieved of the post because of poor health.
In December 1909 (January 1910 by the new calendar) he became a member of the Military Council under the Minister of War, working on the codification of manuals and charters, and he was one of the authors of the 1912 Field Regulations. In February 1912 he was again appointed to a key post as assistant commander of the Kiev Military District. Under the plan for war with Germany and Austria-Hungary, the district commander Nikolai Ivanov was designated commander-in-chief of the Southwestern Front while Ruzsky was designated to command the army formed on the district's basis. He was thus a staff-minded general who combined large-formation command experience with doctrinal and institutional drafting work, and it was as a continuation of that career that he commanded the Southwestern Front's offensive at the opening of the First World War.